973 -7163 

GB798 


Brooks,  Waiter  H 

impressions  at  the  tomb  cf 
L  incoln 


iiiP 


w^^x 


LINCOLN  ROOM 

UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 
LIBRARY 


MEMORIAL 

the  Class  of  1901 

founded  by 

HARLAN  HOYT  HORNER 

and 

HENRIETTA  CALHOUN  HORNER 


Impressions  at  the  Tomb 
of  Abraham  Lincoln 


By  Walter  H.  Brooks,  D.D., 

Pastor  of  Nineteenth  Street  Baptist  Church 

Washington,  D.C. 


HAVE  WALKED,  with  silent  tread,  the  marble  floors 
of  Westminster  Abbey,  where  a  host  of  Great  Brit- 
ain's heroes  and  scholars,  scientists  and  sages,  kings 
and  men  of  noble  birth  and  attainments,  repose;  I 
have  paused  amid  the  tombs  of  Sweden's  noble  dead, 
in  the  temple  that  rises  above  them,  in  one  of  her  cities  of  the 
far  North;  more  than  once  have  I  visited  the  city  of  Paris, 
where  I  beheld  monuments  of  marble  and  bronze — visible  re- 
minders of  the  military  aspirations  and  achievements  of 
France — and,  in  that  city,  I  have  looked  down,  with  kindling 
interest,  upon  the  tomb  of  Napoleon  the  Great ;  I  have  visited 
the  resting-place  of  Thomas  Jefferson,  the  author  of  Ameri- 
ca's Declaration  of  Independence,  and,  with  keen  apprecia- 
tion of  his  worth,  have  thought  of  him  as  a  great  statesman, 
a  friend  and  promoter  of  liberal  culture,  and  an  advocate  of 


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justice  and  liberty,  in  the  interest  of  all  men;  I  have  visited 
the  sacred  soil,  on  the  banks  of  the  Potomac,  where  the  re- 
mains of  George  Washington,  the  first  President  of  the  United 
States  of  America,  are  entombed,  and  thought  of  that  military 
hero  and  statesman,  as  the  founder  of  a  great  government, 
which,  as  Americans  think,  is  the  freest  and  best  in  all  the 
world;  I  have  visited  annually,  during  two  score  of  years, 
my  native  city,  Richmond,  Va.,  where  is  the  home  of  the  late 
Mr.  Jefferson  Davis,  President  of  the  Southern  Confederacy, 
and  where,  in  the  "Capitol  Square,"  and  along  an  avenue  of 
monuments,  are  seen  the  statues,  in  granite  and  marble  and 
bronze,  of  soldiers  and  statesmen,  who  were  in  life  and  are 
in  death  the  pride  and  glory  of  the  South ;  I  have  visited  the 
consecrated  ground,  on  the  Hudson,  where  repose  the  remains 
of  General  Ulysses  S.  Grant,  recognizing  in  that  chieftain 
the  man  of  iron  will,  who  put  an  end  to  the  great  Civil  War, 
thereby  making  it  possible  for  me,  and  the  people  of  my  race 
in  America,  to  possess  and  enjoy  the  privileges  and  advan- 
tages, which  are  ours  as  free  and  native-born  American  citi- 
zens ;  yes,  I  have  visited  all  these  places,  which  are  sacred 
in  the  memory  of  nations,  and  often  have  I  gazed  upon  statues 
of  Abraham  Lincoln,  and  even  upon  the  Lincoln  Memorial  at 
Washington,  D.C.,  which  the  Nation  has  erected  at  great  cost, 
but  never,  in  all  these  sixty~odd  years  of  my  personal  freedom, 
and  the  freedom  of  the  people  of  my  ov/n  blood  and  kind, 
have  I  been  so  strangely  and  so  tenderly  wrought,  as,  when 
at  Springfield,  Illinois,  on  the  fifteenth  day  of  September,  1926, 
I  stood  over  the  dead  and  buried  body  of  Abraham  Lincoln, 
and  laid  a  wreath  upon  his  tomb.  Somehow  or  other,  I 
thought  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  thought  of  His  life,  thought  of 
His  vicarious  death  and  sufferings,  thought  of  the  manifold 


blessings  of  God  which  are  mine  in  Christ,  in  fine,  as  I  stood 
over  the  very  body  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  I  saw  in  Mr.  Lincoln's 
life  and  spirit  something  truly  Christ-like,  and  something 
Christ-like  in  his  death. 

I  am  not  accustomed  to  weep,  but  as  I  stood  and  thought, 
and  thought  the  more,  the  depths  of  my  affection  were  broken 
up,  and  it  was  only  by  resolute  effort  that  I  could  keep  back 
the  tears  which  for  a  moment  dimmed  my  sight — tears  of  love 
and  gratitude. 

When  our  little  group  of  visitors  was  about  to  turn  away 
from  that  sacred  shrine,  Mr.  H.  W.  Fay,  the  faithful  cus- 
todian, singled  me  out,  as  an  ex-slave,  and  remarked:  "Do 
you  wish  to  say  anything?"  I  reflected  a  moment,  then  un- 
bosomed myself  after  this  manner : 

"Abraham  Lincoln  saved  the  government  of  the  United 
States  of  America,  when  its  very  existence  was  threatened, 
and  rendered  his  government  the  better  service  still,  in  issu- 
ing his  Proclamation  of  Emancipation,  as  a  death-blow  to  the 
institution  of  slavery,  as  it  existed  in  the  states  then  at  war 
with  the  government  of  the  United  States.  For,  Mr.  Lincoln 
realized  in  his  inmost  soul,  that  the  institution  of  slavery  was 
the  real  cause  of  the  great  Civil  War,  and  had  been  a  source 
of  unrest,  and  social  and  civil  strife  from  the  very  foundation 
of  the  Republic.  In  removing  this  cause  of  his  country's 
years  of  unrest,  and  his  government's  greatest  peril,  he 
freed  millions  of  bondmen,  and  left  his  country  one,  though 
bleeding  and  torn,  himself  dying  amid  the  throes  of  the  Na- 
tion's new  birth,  stricken  down  by  an  assassin's  hand. 

'Trecious  in  the  sight  of  humanity  may  the  memory  of 
Abraham  Lincoln  be  till  time  itself  shall  end,  and  doubly 
precious  may  he  be  to  me  and  to  the  people  of  my  race,  who 
have  come  into  the  opportunities  and  glories  of  this  new  day." 


^^^^^RSfTY  OF 


'u/wojr 


When  I  had  finished  my  brief  statement,  I  lingered  yet  a 
moment  longer  at  the  tomb  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  and  again  my  soul 
was  wrought.  In  that  moment  I  felt  as  though  God  himself 
was  calling  to  me  to  dedicate  myself  anew  to  all  that  is  noblest 
and  best  in  human  life,  and  to  work,  with  greater  energy  than 
ever,  in  righteous  self-elevation,  elevation  of  race,  elevation  of 
all  men  to  whom  I  may  lend  a  helping  hand,  or  give  hope  and 
inspiration;  for,  after  all,  Abraham  Lincoln  was  only  the  in- 
strument through  which  the  omnipotent  God  answered  the 
cries  of  America's  enslaved  millions,  working  as  He  ever  works 
and  through  whom  He  wills,  in  times  of  peace  and  amid  the 
desolations  of  war,  to  the  accomplishment  and  glory  of  His 
own  eternal  purpose. 

My  brethren  according  to  the  flesh,  and  brethren  of  the 
common  faith,  however  cast  down  we  may  be,  however  many 
our  trials,  however  bitter  our  foes,  let  us  never  lose  faith  in 
God.  ''The  triumphings  of  the  wicked  are  but  for  a  season." 
Let  us  never  cease  to  love  all  men,  and  do  good  to  all  men 
as  we  have  opportunity;  and  the  day  of  a  brighter  glory 
shall  be  ours  in  this  land  of  privileges  and  great  opportunities. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS-URBANA 

973.7L63GB79I  C001 

IMPRESSIONS  AT  THE  TOMB  OF  ABRAHAM  UNCO 


3  0112  03 


817775 


